Gold Butte Supporters Ready To Fight Trump Administration

If the Trump Administration plans to shrink national monuments in Nevada—as it does in Utah, according to documents obtained today by The Washington Post—groups supporting Gold Butte and Basin and Range National Monuments have readied a litigious rebuttal.

Jaina Moan, Executive Director of the Friends of Gold Butte, told Patch Monday, "If the president were to take executive action to reduce the boundaries of Gold Butte National Monument, we're prepared to take legal action."

She said environmental groups supporting the national monument would be represented in court by one of the largest multinational law firms in the world, Hogan Lovells — a Washington, D.C.-based firm that represents clients in litigation involving the federal government. The firm is America's 4th largest and ranks 7th globally.

The Friends of Gold Butte and environmental groups in Utah, such as Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, were "frustrated and angry" about the reported decision to slash more than 85 percent in a re-designation of Bears Ears National Monument, Moan said. The Trump Administration will also cut a million acres off of Utah's Grand Staircase-Escalante.

"They're pretty significant reductions," Moan said of the proposition, "and if that's the path the administration wants to take, it's a dangerous one. It will erode our Antiquities (Act), and we're going to fight against it."

She said conservation groups in Utah estimate that 75 percent of archeological resources will lose protection in the new proclamation.

In response to the report Monday, supporters in Nevada have planned a press conference for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5 at the office of Battle Born Progress and Nevada Conservation League. Speakers at the press conference include Moan, as well as a spokesperson from the Moapa Band of Paiutes, Fawn Douglas of the Las Vegas Paiute Tribe, UNLV professor Steve Rowland, former CEO of the Nevada Commission on Tourism Tom Tait.

In September, a leaked memo appeared to indicate Zinke would recommend shrinking several national monuments, including the nearly 300,000 acres of land that makes up Gold Butte. The memo seemed sympathetic to the concerns of the Virgin Valley Water District. The District requested its water rights, which serve Mesquite and are currently inside of the monument designation, be excluded following the review of Gold Butte.

"The boundary should be revised through the use of appropriate authority, including lawful exercise of the President's discretion granted by the Act, to protect historic water rights," the memo suggested.

Moan said that the Trump Administration was "ignoring popular opinion" on Bears Ears. However, recent polling done by the Salt Lake Tribune showed 51 percent of Utahans think the 1.35 million acres of Bears Ears is too large. A report on Nevada Public Lands released in June 2016 found 71 percent of Nevadans supported giving Gold Butte national monument status.

"We just don't know what the next step for Gold Butte is. It's kind of in limbo," Moan said.

Images via John Locher/Associated Press